Bishopstown Community School Girls basketball team finally get the win and title they have been chasing

Bishopstown Community School Girls basketball team recently won the Basketball Ireland Schools South U19 ‘D’ title when they defeated Colaiste Phobail, Bheara in the final held at GUC Parochial Arena.

The Bishopstown school are no strangers to days like these, as the girls have appeared in three previous finals, narrowly losing by four points or less in every one of them. 

However, the girls came into this season and this game with a point to prove and won the very first basketball trophy for their school.

Colaiste Phobail Bheara were the opponents on this occasion and both teams made a tentative start to the game. 

The Bishopstown girls held a slender seven point lead at the half, thanks to key scores from Alma Persson, Leah Arenas and Isla Murphy.

After a slow start to the third quarter, the Beara team begin to make inroads into the lead, and that forced the Bishopstown team into a instant time out which settled the girls and they returned to the court with one clear mission. 

Kate McCarthy was dominant in this period of the game, hitting seven of her points in this quarter. 

Beatriz Souza also turned in a composed performance in the final quarter, contributing at both ends of the floor as she ran in the last three unanswered scores of the game. 

Another highlight was that five sixth year students who played out the last few minutes of this game as they enjoyed the sweet taste of victory. These girls have cemented their position in the history books of Bishopstown CS, bringing home the first ever Cork Girls Basketball title.

The U19 Girls will now march on to a Munster semi final in the new year and the school can’t wait to see what else this team can achieve.

The Bishopstown U16 girls and U19 boys were also in action in their respective regional finals at the heart of Cork Basketball, Neptune Stadium.

The U19 boys were the first of the to take to the court and there was very little between the teams in the opening three quarters. 

The loss of Rahman Amusa to foul trouble towards the end third quarter hurt the Bishopstown school as the game tied 30-30 at the start of the fourth period thanks to the offensive efforts of Ryan Kenny with 13 and Chucks Onyeka with seven points respectively. 

Colaiste an Chraobhin had the better start to that period with their top scorer Luke Donnellon chipping in 11 of his 21 point haul in this period. However, the momentum swung to the Fermoy team who ran out deserved winners in the end. 

The Bishopstown boys can take heart that they will only lose one sixth year student from this team for next year.

Next to take to the court were the U16 girls team, a young team appearing in their first final. 

The girls had a slow start allowing Colaiste Eamann Ris race to an early lead. 

Scores by Leah Arenas, Caoimhe Power and Tomi Suleman kept the Bishopstown girls in the hunt, and Maeve O’Connell sprung to life in the third quarter with some excellent baskets, however, the girls had left themselves a mountain to climb and lost out at the end in a very good contest.

This team has improved with every game and will look to build on this next season.